Bad Chinese Changeover

As anybody who lives on the far Upper East Side should know, the best Chinese delivery place - by far – was Szechuan Cottage on York between 83rd and 84th. The food was excellent, inexpensive and always delivered quickly. Last summer the restaurant suddenly and surprisingly shut down, but promised they were merely remodeling. They now have finally opened and the result has been disastrous. First off, there must have been an ownership change. When we called to order, an American guy answered the phone – never a good sign in a Chinese restaurant! Our order was similar to what we always get: sesame noodles (ya know, the peanut butter-tasting thing) and chicken with broccoli. The order took 20 minutes to arrive, twice the time it used to, there was no free soda with it as was always the case in the past, the noodles were a much smaller portion and not good (I mean, how can you mess up THAT dish?!) and the bill came to $19, a third higher than it would have been in the past. We’re not in love with Charley Mom’s, also right down York, but we’ll be calling them from now on.